Facts About Females

Posted 19 September 2010 in , by kvscott | Comments (0)

Women and Working

According to Entrepreneur magazine, “In the U.S., an estimated 8.6 million women-owned businesses contribute $1.3 trillion to the economy and employ 7.7 million Americans, according to an April report commissioned by American Express OPEN, the credit card giant’s small business division. What’s more, the number of women-owned firms with $10 million or more in annual sales has increased 57 percent over the past decade. – Entrepreneur Magazine

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Today, women-owned firms have an economic impact of $3 trillion that translates into the creation and/or maintenance of 23 million jobs, 16 percent of all U.S. jobs. – National Women’s Business Council

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The Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) list of the 50 fastest-growing women-owned or led businesses in North America” generated a combined $3.2 billion in 2012 revenues and employ an average of 641 employees each.”

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When more women work, economies grow. An increase in female labour force participation—or a reduction in the gap between women’s and men’s labour force participation—results in faster economic growth. – unwomen.org

It is estimated that companies with three or more women in senior management functions score higher in all dimensions of organizational effectiveness –unwomen.org

Girls and Education

A study using data from 219 countries from 1970 to 2009 found that, for every one additional year of education for women of reproductive age, child mortality decreased by 9.5 percent –unwomen.org

Women and Health

According to a study published by Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York, half of the 2000 women that participated in a survey, still did not know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack. These include chest pain, jaw pain, nausea, and shortness of breath. What’s worse, nearly half of women said they wouldn’t call 911—the lifesaving step recommended by the American Heart Association – if they were having symptoms of a heart attack.

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In the United States alone, more than one half million women die of CVD each year, exceeding the number of deaths in men and the next 7 causes of death in women combined. This translates into approximately 1 death every minute.

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US NEWS – What’s the single best thing I can do to protect my heart? “Measure your waist circumference every month,” says Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York. “A measurement over 35 inches means that your heart is at risk, [and] you don’t want your waist size to keep creeping up towards that number.” More than body weight, she says, a large waist size has been correlated with high blood pressure, high insulin levels (a precursor to diabetes, which is a risk factor for heart disease), and low levels of the “good” HDL cholesterol and high levels of the “bad” LDL. A large waist usually means a large accumulation of dangerous abdominal fat; this fat churns out inflammatory chemicals that damage arteries.

Women and Elections

WE MATTER: 66% of U.S. female citizens 18 and older voted in the 2008 Presidential election compared to 62% of U.S. males. Additionally, 73 percent of female citizens reported being registered to vote. – Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008

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Women and Body Image

France’s parliament considered a landmark bill to outlaw media images glamorizing the extremely thin, psychology researchers are reporting some of the most definitive findings yet on how these images affect women.

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“I want to stress that it’s totally normal for women to want to be attractive,” says postdoctoral researcher Shelly Grabe . “But what’s happening in our society is that many women are striving toward something that’s not very realistic or obtainable, and that leads to a lot of health consequences.” Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison

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The results are troubling because recent research has established body dissatisfaction as a major risk factor for low self-esteem, depression, obesity, and eating disorders, such as bulimia. At the same time, women’s displeasure with their bodies has become so common that it’s now considered normal, says Grabe.

Women and Social Media

Facebook Moms Are Marketing-Savvy – Marketers going after moms on social networks such as Facebook know by now that users rarely embrace ads in environments where they are focused on socializing with friends.
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Women and Shopping

Number 1 Hobby in 1954 – Home Sewing. Number 1 Hobby in 2010 – Genaology. In 1954, 63% of women listed themselves as “creative seamstresses” and 4.5 million girls were enrolled in sewing classes.

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POWERFUL PURSE STRINGS: Women purchase more than 50% of all new vehicles, an $83 billion market, and influence 85% of all auto purchases. They spend another $300 billion on used cars, repairs, parts, service, and maintenance. Road & Travel Magazine

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Beware Store Owners: 20% of women said they were ignored by sales clerks, mostly because they thought the clerks were more interested in talking with each other about their weekend plans or were on the phone with friends. A whopping 47% of those women said they would never go back to that store. 22% of men recounted …incidents of feeling snubbed, but only 22% of those men considered it a lifelong negative mark. “Being ignored is a big issue for women,” Courtney said. “It’s a loyalty issue.”

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Powerful Book Buying – “Despite women being the most affected by the economy, women baby boomers (between 43 and 61) were the single largest book-buying group” (1/09 – 9/09), followed by women between the ages of 20 and 30.” Publishers Weekly 12/21/2009

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Women have surpassed men in purchasing and using technology such as laptops, Palm pilots, cell phones, DVD players, digital cameras, and computers. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, women actually spent more on technology last year than men. It said that women accounted for $55 billion of the $96 billion spent on electronics gear. – Road & Travel Magazine